On June 24th, German metal queen Doro released her latest in a string of anniversary DVDs entitled Strong And Proud – 30 Years Of Rock And Metal. For some people this may come off as overkill in that the lovely lady cranks out an audio-visual extravaganza every five years or so, needlessly showcasing the fact she’s still in top form and kicking ass. For the diehard fans it’s a celebration of an artist who continues to put her peers and performers half her age to shame (Doro was born in ’64; do the math). Strong And Proud is a monstrous three DVD set featuring an obligatory Wacken Open Air show, a two-night stand her Düsseldorf home town divided between Classic Night and Rock / Metal Night sets, a behind-the-scenes documentary, and bonus material Doro couldn’t leave on the cutting room floor even though she was advised to do so by the creative team backing her up.

“It was at least one-and-a-half years of work,” Doro reveals, as the 30th Anniversary show in Düsseldorf was shot in 2014. “I have a guy that works with me, he’s done the last four DVDs, but I always want to be there to help take care of stuff so it’s definitely teamwork. I know best what the fans want to see, so there might be an editor that’s great at his job technically but I want to see excitement of the fans, I want to see their faces. Those things catch my eye but the guy doing the editing might have a different perspective. And sometimes I’ll have to tell the people ‘No, the other guy is playing the guitar solo, not him, so focus on the other guy…’ It’s like they always focus on the wrong guitar player unless I’m there (laughs). There’s a team of people that work on editing, colour grading, sound and all these other details, so it was months and months of work.” Continue Reading

You may have heard that Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister passed away on December 28th, 2015 at the age of 70, a victim of cancer. If you haven’t…. well, you are most certainly oblivious to the world around you.

I honestly had no intention of writing a tribute in Lemmy’s honour, figuring nothing I could possibly say would have any weight or worth in the shadow of such a legend. When the boss asked the BraveWords staff to contribute to a very necessary piece honouring Lemmy’s memory, however, I figured I had to say something. After all, the man and the band have been a part of my life for 30 years now; surely I could come up with a few kind words.

Turns out I did, much more easily than I’d expected….

I’m not going to launch into this tribute with claims that Lemmy and Motörhead changed or influenced the way I devoured my rock n’ roll upon discovery, because they didn’t. The simple fact is that when I picked up my first Motörhead album in 1986 in downtown Toronto and Cheapies, it was on a whim inspired entirely by the Orgasmatron artwork. This was before the age of listening desks, thus all I had to go on was word of mouth, MuchMusic, and judging a proverbial book by its cover. In this case the initial Orgasmatron spin was the first of a gazillion, and from there Motörhead was simply “there” in the best way possible. Aggressive high energy go-to music good for any occasion, something decidedly different from the Metallica, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Helloween, Iron Maiden, Ratt and Mötley Crüe albums that otherwise occupied my brain for hours on end. Year by year, forward and back, my Motörhead album collection grew to the expected size for that of a true fan. In short, all of ’em.

I had the pleasure of seeing Motörhead play in both Canada and Europe several times, the first being in Toronto at the infamous Operation Rock N’ Roll show in 1991 with Judas Priest, Alice Cooper and Dangerous Toys. Regardless of which side of the world they played on, the trio was welcomed with a reverence worthy of royalty and Lemmy was most certainly the king. Even from the back of the room he was larger (and louder) than life. A living legend in the truest sense. Continue Reading

So, me and my extended BW&BK family have issued our individual Best Of 2012 lists because that’s the sort of thing you do in this biz as the new year kicks off. I’ve decided to post my long-winded overview of the last 12 months here, with a link provided leading to my Top 10 Albums list along with other honourable (and dishonourable) mentions…

It was a rollercoaster of a year, as they all are in the music biz.

From being blindsided by Halestorm’s new album The Strange Case Of… and becoming a fan against my will, to dealing with a fuckwit promo rep at Roadrunner Records who decided to change my questions in an email interview because she felt they were “too harsh” for her artist (um, shouldn’t that be for the artist to decide?), to bucket list interviews with Brighton Rock’s Gerry McGhee and the lovely Lita Ford, to witnessing some amazing shows on both sides of the pond, 2012 has been quite the adventure.

See the list here for the Hot and Not albums of my year, then pick apart my sanity at your leisure.

Gotta say that I was surprised at not being disappointed by any of the shows I was able to attend this year. The third annual European run of Rock Meets Classic featuring Ian Gillan (Deep Purple), Steve Lukather (Toto), Chris Thompson (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band), three-fifths of Primal Fear’s roster and Trillium vocalist Amanda Somerville was positively brilliant, with PF singer Ralf Scheepers going above and beyond lending his voice to the Toto hit ‘Rosanna’ (!). Watching Devin Townsend successfully manipulate a Motörhead crowd into doing his bidding was a gut-buster, seeing former Helloween members Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen on stage together with Unisonic belting out classics ‘I Want Out’ and ‘Future World’ was ’87 surreal, and the Leaves’ Eyes / Firewind tour that looked so weird on paper turned out to be one of the best gigs of the past 12 months.

Nightwish gets a scrapbook all its own due to a brilliant show in Nuremberg – featuring more pyro than the sun – and a day and night hanging with some of the finest people in the metal business. Continue Reading

One of the things I enjoy most about the whole music biz schtick is the people I meet along the way. Not just the so-called rock stars; label reps, tour managers, promoters, stage crews, promo people, merchandise watchdogs, other journalists…. I’ve met plenty of each and I’m proud to call many of them my friends.

One such specimen is Australian sound engineer Matt West, who has worked for the likes of Testament, Motörhead, and several non-metal artists; a gentleman whom I met by chance and turned out to be quite a nice guy largely due to his warped sense of humour and love of metal. Turns out we also share a love of photography, and Matt has taken a big step by releasing a book of 200 shots compiled from his travels around the world.

Gotta say, I’m impressed.

Following is an overview of the book by Matt and the official press release for the book, entitled Moments:

Matt: “Moments is a collection of images with minimal information: only a title and location accompanying each shot. My desire is to leave the interpretation up to you. A random sequence of apparently unconnected photos, moving from one country to the next, through the randomness of the images you are invited to make your own connections. The dialogue of this book is both personal and internal.

There are to be no band or celebrity shots here. These are moments that caught my eye while wandering foreign lands. A collection of images from around the world taken while on the road, mostly away from the crowds and the flashing lights.

This is a book for when you have a few quiet moments of your own to drift away. It’s easy reading and easy viewing. I hope you will find something that inspires your imagination.” Continue Reading

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